The Woodlands is riding defense to wins

Updated 11:09 pm, Tuesday, November 8, 2011

STINGY: The Woodlands' swarming defense has posted four straight shutouts, including 28-0 in this game vs. Kingwood.

STINGY: The Woodlands' swarming defense has posted four straight shutouts, including 28-0 in this game vs. Kingwood.

Photo: Thjomas B. Shea

The Woodlands is riding defense to wins

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The Woodlands recorded its third consecutive shutout for the first time in 30 years against rival College Park in Week 9.

Last week's 57-0 blanking of Conroe sent the program into uncharted territory.

The Highlanders had never posted four straight shutouts, even going back to their days as McCullough High School players, begging the question - is this the best defense in program history?

That's up for debate.

"The thing about this group is we're getting better every week," The Woodlands coach Mark Schmid said. "You're seeing different kids step up every week to make plays, to get the defense off the field, and that's exciting.

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"I think we're playing our best football at the right time."

There's no question about that.

The four shutouts have come right before the playoffs, a good sign that the unit is peaking. That's the key difference between this group and the one from three years ago, which also was stellar.

The 2008 defense entered the postseason allowing just 7.5 points per game. They posted three shutouts, two of them back-to-back to start the season, including the infamous 47-0 win over Katy.

All about responsibility

These Highlanders have surrendered 11.1 points per game. But take away the 32 scored by Monterrey Tech in the opener, and that number drops to 8.8 - with no points allowed in more than a month.

"The kids are playing with a lot of confidence, they're playing as a team," Schmid said. "One of our big deals on the defensive side of the ball is to do your job, and they've bought into that. Everybody's doing their job and things have turned out well for us."

They couldn't have turned out better.

After most of the offense graduated, including standout running back Daniel Lasco and steady quarterback Joseph Schneider, Schmid had hoped to lean on his defense, and they've come through.

"Their run front is outstanding," said Kingwood coach Dougald McDougald, whose team managed just 118 total yards - all on 39 rushes - in a 28-0 loss. "The thing about us, not only do you have to be very physical to play us, you have to be really well-coached and very honed in on your responsibilities to stop the option, and The Woodlands did that."

They even slowed Hightower's Bralon Addison in Week 1, holding him to one touchdown on 50-percent passing and 36 yards on 15 rushes - but the real test of this unit's mettle is yet to come.

Tough test on deck

The Highlanders (9-1) face preseason No. 1 Klein Collins (8-2), a physical, run-first team, in the first round of the playoffs.

As good as the Highlanders were the last two years, with back-to-back 10-0 regular seasons, they didn't survive past the second round of the playoffs. In fact, they haven't gone three deep in Schmid's eight seasons.

If they finally break through that barrier, we'll know this defense is legit.

Maybe even the best.

"Defense will play a major role, being able to play defense all night long, make key stops when we need them," Schmid said. "That will be a big factor, especially in our first-round game against an exceptionally good Collins team."